Salad Dressing Trivia
10 Things you never knew about Salad.
- Salad comes from the Latin word “herba salta” or “salted herbs,” so called because such greens were usually seasoned with dressings containing lots of salt.
- The original Caesar salad recipe did not contain anchovy; the anchovy flavor comes from the Worcestershire sauce. Ceasar Cardini, the original creator of the salad, was opposed to using anchovies in his salad.
- According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Americans consume salad dressing 38 times a year. That's it??
- Ranch is consumed 15 of those 38 times. Italian is 2nd with 6 times.
- The average American eats approximately 30 pounds of lettuce each year.
- McDonald’s salads contain more fat than their burgers.
- The original wild lettuce “Lactuca serriola” was known as “prickly lettuce” and grown for medicinal purposes as it contained a milky sap which has mild sleep-inducing properties.
- The word “avocado” comes from ahuacatl, which means “testicle” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Go figure -- their shape and the fact they grow in pairs.
- The most abundant nutrient in iceberg lettuce is water, over 90%, so it can help to keep you hydrated. I guess that's a positive spin on it.
- In ancient Egypt, lettuce and particularly arugula, was considered to be a powerful aphrodisiac and was thus sacred to the fertility god Min.
So there you go - go eat some arugula and have a good night!
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